This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
In the spring of 1985, Bill Maura was wrapping up his high school education and getting ready to move to Poughkeepsie, New York.
Come fall, he'd be starting his freshman year at Vassar College.
Like many incoming college students, Bill was concerned about how he would pay for his education.
My financial aid package in my freshman year was basically a combination of student loans and work study.
But at the end of Bill's sophomore year, he received an unexpected letter in the mail.
I get this letter congratulating me for receiving something called the Hager Scholars award.
And the letter explained that the award would take the place in my financial aid package of my student loan.
And here's what it said.
This is an interest free loan with a moral obligation to repay.
And I was like, what?
Like, what does that mean?
Okay, I will take the money.
You know, I think my young self was like, I will take the money, and I don't have to have a student loan anymore.
Thank you very much.
It wasn't that simple, though.
The phrase moral obligation to repay stuck with Bill.
It made him think so, you know.
At the time, I was like, what is this?